Film Notes and Reviews

Film

Wadjda (PG) - Saudi Arabia - 2012

Director

Haifaa Al Mansour

Cast

Reem Abdullah, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Waad Mohammed, Sultan Al Assaf

Notes

"As a narrative ‘Wadjda’ has an earnest but gentle comic tone of the style of a ‘kid’s compete’ documentary. It merits recognition for its freshness and as the first feature film ever to have been entirely shot in Saudi Arabia and by a female director at that,

Ten-year-old Wadjda is a rebel - wears jeans and baseball boots under her abaya, listens to western pop music on the radio, hangs out with a boy, Abdullah and has her own small business, selling plaited friendship bracelets to her friends. When Abdullah crows about having a bicycle, Wadjda is inspired to try to raise the money to buy one for herself. As in ‘Bicycle Thieves’, a bike symbolises freedom, with the added potency that the riding of one by a woman is widely frowned upon.

The limitations and humiliations conferred by her sex confront Wadjda everywhere but she is astute enough to realise that she can by-pass social or religious approval if she is financially undependent.

In the midst of patriarchal dominance and her mother’s fraught marriage, Wadjda is a wish fulfilment figure, a tomboy super-heroine, who answers back to bullies and makes rakish little gestures of defiance. There is a sense of optimism in her indefatigability.

This film makes clear certain realities of female life experience in Saudi Arabia while also proffering comfort in the form of hope for a fairer future."

Hannah McGill – Sight and Sound (BFI) - August 2013

"You’d need a heart of stone not to be won over by ‘Wadjda’, a rebel yell with a spoonful of sugar and a pungent sense of Riyadh society, split between the home, the madrasa and the shopping mall.

Waad Mohammed plays the 10 yr. old heroine who enters a Qu’ran reading competition to raise funds to buy a bike – much to the horror of her imperilled mother and imperious teacher. In conservative Ryadh, we are told; girls do not ride bikes and are barely even permitted to laugh out of doors.

As the first woman ever to shoot a Saudi Arabian feature film, writer/director Haifaa Al Mansour has already assured herself of a small place in history. And yet, ‘Wadjda’ stands on its own merits.

The road through is dusty, bumpy and fraught with danger. But up ahead lies the scent of a happy ending. Wadjda knows it is there and bears down on the pedals."

Xan Brooks – The Guardian - July 2013

What you thought about Wadjda

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

Very Poor

57 (63%)

32 (35%)

2 (2%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Total Number of Responses: 91
Film Score (0-5): 4.60

Clearly this was a film that was much appreciated by the vast majority of the audience. With a particularly high number of responses from an audience of some 135, the number of ‘Excellent’ and ‘Good’ scores is remarkable.

The contrast between the values that are common to our society and those of Saudi Arabia were immediately apparent: “Depressing treatment of women”; “pulls no punches about the culture”; “a great insight”; “an intriguing presentation of life there and the treatment of women”; “put the many issues across without prejudice”; “most of us are probably quite ignorant of (middle class) life in Saudi and indoctrination into the teachings of the Koran”; “a glimpse of Saudi life that, as a visitor to Riyadh, I have never seen”; “interesting exposure of an interface between Western culture and Islam”; “showed the hypocrisy and tragedy of the life that people live in other parts of the world”.

That the film was made at all – and by a female director was a significance that many acknowledged: “Very surprised that the film was allowed to be made”; “behind the scenes, things are changing but very slowly – here is a spark of hope for the future”; “sadness and hope entangled”; “great to hear that it may already have changed attitudes to cinema and women riding bikes”!

Many of you commented on the quality of the acting and direction: “Given the lack of experience of the cast, this was a very believable performance”; “amazing young actress”; “loved the comical elements, the high quality of the acting and the production as a whole”; “a bravely told story”; “some lovely characters that do not fit a Western perception of the Arab World”; “a bit like Jane Austen – but people of substance”; “plenty of feel good factors”; “astonishing in all departments especially given the number of ‘firsts’ involved”; “may it win! The first of many I hope”; “the courage of Haifaa Mansour in making the film deserves an Oscar”; “it seems almost impossible for it to have been made openly”.

Some more general observations: “A most interesting and important social document – a lot to think about”; “reminds us all of the things we take for granted”; “this film will resonate”; “and we think we have something to complain about”?

There were some reservations however: “Interesting but rather slow moving”; “over simplistic”; “over stretched for a ‘slight’ plot – but some wonderful moments”; “a little long”; “very, very slow in parts”.

Some final comments: “A refreshing lack of incidental music”; “a lovely ending”; “7 years old – and a ‘wife’! Can this be true”?; “is ‘Abdulla’ a ‘hope’ for change for the better”?; “a very plucky young girl”; “I hope that they did marry”!; “nice to know that teenage girls are the same the world over”! (Quote from a father of 3 girls); “exactly the sort of film that a film society should be showing”.